In the 20th century novel, “The Bean Trees” by Barbara Kingsolver, the two protagonists are Taylor Greer and Lou Ann Ruiz. These two have very opposing character traits. In chapter four, to introduce each character, Kingsolver changes the narrators voice from Taylor’s first person narrative, to an unknown third-person narrative. This shows Taylor’s upbeat personality versus Lou Ann’s more fearful and pessimistic views.
Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle (Napoleon Hill). In the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the tree is an important symbol of growth and courage through difficult times. The main character, Melinda, went through a series of unfathomable events over the summer that put her into a troublesome position. She was raped by a boy named Andy at a party while she was drunk. Scared and confused, she called the cops to come help her, resulting in her losing all her friends.
Aside from the people suffering within the camp, the trees are the only sign of life in the otherwise barren desert. The tree is a representation of a better life that has been taken away from his family and other Japanese-Americans. His plucked leaf from the tree must represent his wish for a better life. Over the winter the trees that are planted for them die and they no longer have the trees to enjoy. The boy shamefully thinks back to picking the leaf.
The tree is like a boat and the main mast is the biggest part, and also the most helpful. The main mast holds the biggest sail and pushes the boat the furthest. This theme can be described also in life, sometimes there is a stranger, someone unknown who is like a main mast helping you travel the sea of life. Jewett has used similes and imagery to show how the tree and the environment can be an adversary at once and then immediately become a helping
When people are asked to imagine the struggles of day to day lives, they predominantly think about not having enough gasoline for their cars or embarrassing oneself in front of others. What is often over looked is the harassment and hypersexualization of women all over the world, twenty-four seven, seven days a week. Barbara Kingsolver in her work of fiction, The Bean Trees, has given readers all over the world an insight of few realistic women’s struggles in the revolutionized world. The book follows main character Taylor Greer as she deals with having an unknown baby handed to her through starting over her life. She learns the real world through an unshielded window.
Therefore, trees are used to teach the theme of autonomy through personal growth and challenging
“ A tree grows in Brooklyn” by Betty Smith is an interesting book. Every chapter talks about the poverty in the 20th century in America. The author, Betty, does not only refer poverty as the lack of food, shelter, etc. “Tree” is a coming of age story and that is one reason why I believe it should be in the ninth grade curriculum. This book teaches us about poverty, the fall of innocence, education, and sexuality.
Laurie Halse Anderson uses the tree as a motif to trace Melinda’s growth from someone who is afraid and depressed to someone who is strong and more stable. In the beginning of the story, we can tell that Melinda is very depressed despite her internal sense of humor. Since the party that she called
The tone of this excerpt is overly yielding. The narrator has a superficial lifestyle where she is happy with the home she lives in and all of the amenities she has while her parents live a content lifestyle, where they have done right by their daughter and allowed her to grow up to where she is today. The narrator cannot bare to see her parents in the state that they are in and feels that although her parents are happy living on the streets that they shouldn’t because they don’t live in an actual home. This tree symbolizes the narrator’s life. As a child, she had gone in every direction that her parents had taken her.
Tenement districts in Brooklyn throughout the early 1900s provided challenges that entire families were forced to handle. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, by Betty Smith, depicts the Nolan family facing difficulties that even children had to overcome while they lived in one of these districts. Francie Nolan, the main character of the novel, is faced with the greatest difficulty of them all: growing up. Poverty was one aspect of Francie’s life that caused her to lack certain fundamental features of a regular child’s life. This is shown through Francie consistently being without food due to poverty, and having to discover for herself in a very difficult way that hunger was a painfully real issue.
“Mom and Dad smiled at each other and laughed. It was a sound that Tree hadn’t heard from them in the longest time” (132). This shows how Tree wasn’t sure his parents were ever going to get along again, but they end up having a good time. This is an example of how family matters most and hope is always around. This situation gave Tree strength to preserve.
Despite some opposition to the novel, The Giving Tree should be a book on every teacher and parent’s reading list. However, it should be taught age appropriately. First, Colorado thought the book was sexist because it portrayed the boy as being selfish and wanting all of the tree’s belongings and the tree as a female giving in
Intro/Outline: Perception differs from reality, but reality never differs from perception. Humanity continuously falls victim to their own ignorance, succumbing to the trap of misconception and illusion. This notion can be seen in countless writings throughout history, such as Shakespeare's Macbeth, William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Plato's Allegory of the Cave, and Oscar Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray. Each writing supports a notion of the truth of reality. Thesis:
The Power of Perseverance Throughout life, one must learn that in order to overcome challenges, they must keep sight of their goals and persevere in order to reach them. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith tells the story of a young girl named Francie growing up in an impoverished Brooklyn community in the early 1900s. Since a young age, Francie fantasizes about the other worlds s out there, it is through the observation of others and the books that she reads that she realizes that she must get out of her town in order to be happy. Many times throughout the book, it feels as though all odds are against her, like when she must drop out of high school to support her family.
After publishing Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back, he wrote a book called The Giving Tree, which now can be known as “the most discussed children’s book in history”(“Shel Silverstein”). The story depicts a boy and a tree who are both growing up throughout the story. The story starts out with the boy being around the tree for fun, but as the boy gets older and has less and less time, he uses the tree for more of what he needs. After continuously taking things from the tree, the boy doesn’t come back for a long time.
